Loading ...I’ve really tried to tone down the attacks on the sports media. I’m sure most of them are nice guys, and besides, other sites do that a lot better than I can. Other than a spare remark about Jeff Brantley, I think we’ve gotten away from that sort of thing. But this story in today’s DDN is just an incredible example of laziness and sloppiness.
- The headline: “Undrafted Hanigan makes Reds debut.”
As a Reds fan, I immediately remembered Hanigan’s callup, even though I wasn’t being paid to watch or write about those games. At first, I was just going to blame the guy who wrote the headline, but McCoy’s article also refers to “Hanigan’s debut.” So at least two guys, and probably 3 or 4 didn’t bother checking the media guide, baseball-reference.com, or their own memories of last fall. I just don’t get it.
Was there a time when McCoy was a better sports writer?
Yes, there was. But age has diminished his memory as well as his eyesight. Recently on Hal’s blog, he wrote that the best Reds trade since he had been writing about the Reds was the George Foster deal, since the Morgan trade was after he got the Reds beat. Problem: the Foster trade occurred BEFORE the Morgan deal. So both short-term and long-term memory is a problem now.
And from people I’ve known that worked at the DDN…McCoy doesn’t pass the “nice guy” test either.
Without looking it up I’m pretty sure he hit a grandslam in one of those 5 games too. And then he got busted for breaking the substance rules.
Wait, whoops. I’m thinking of Ryan Jorgensen. I guess my memory isn’t too good either.
Although if I was getting paid I’d have double checked that first.
Well, it was his 2008 debut with the Reds. That could have been the intention.
I suspect you’re right, renbutler, but an editor should have made that more clear, if not in the headline (where print space considerations can force ambiguity) then by modifying “debut” with “2008″ in McCoy’s article.
FWIW, I don’t think McCoy’s implying that Hanigan had never played in the bigs before. The article’s just not quite as clear as it could be, and it would have been easy to correct.
I’ve dogged McCoy’s writing in the past, but I don’t think it’s all his fault — the DDN is just a shoddy newspaper with terrible copy editors and an awkward in-house style that does some oddball things with quotations.
At first I thought it was just Hal who would take a player’s quote and turn it into a run-on sentence every time:
“Well, the pitch was on the outside part of the plate, and I was lucky to get some good wood on it and get us a win. I’m glad Dusty’s giving me a chance.”
…becomes…
“”Well the pitch was on the outside part of the plate and I was lucky to get some good wood on it and get us a win and I’m glad manager Dusty Baker is giving me a chance.”
Happens a lot. I don’t know if it’s Hal or bad copy editing, but that’s just terrible.
The Cincy Enquirer isnt much better, Fay’s blogs have more type-o’s than a broken keyboard. But take it for what its worth. A broken team, with broken journalism. Its a fitting example of just how bad this team is when its beat writers & editors dont even care enough to put quality stuff in print.
The Reds are bad, but remember when Peter King called the Raiders the worst team in the history of the world? Heh.
I thought Hanigan was the dude who hit the grand slam then got busted with drugs also. lol
glad it was jorgenson and not hanigan
MLBtraderumors.com reports that a report says Dunn to Diamondbacks for three prospects including Dallas Buck.
Not clue if it’s true though…looks like it’s just a radio guy saying it.
ESPN now reporting Dunn has been traded. This is terrible. Let’s trade away the guy leading the majors in homeruns since 2004. That sounds like a good idea yeah?
Ridiculous. Who’s our outfield next year? Bruce, Patterson and Jolbert Cabrera?
I seriously want to give up on teh reds more than ever.